Lochgelly Sunflower Nursery

The new build Sunflower Nursery is used to provide facilities for 0-3 year infants and the development of parenting skills and activities for parents. The central learning space benefits from having a folding partition for user flexibility, with ancillary and staff adjacencies strategically placed to assist this. In addition, the learning space has a south facing aspect with direct access to a secure external play space. The new facility directly links to the existing nursery building to enable all areas to be fully accessible under the one roof.

The project brief was initially for the construction of a 150 m² extension however, through an innovative approach to joining up available council capital, maintenance and energy management budgets the project was able to be extended to include a near complete refurbishment of the existing building as well.

The new extension was designed on the basis of maximising off-site fabrication which greatly increased the speed of construction. The existing nursery building dating to the mid-seventies benefitted from new windows, heating, roof and floor coverings and a full redecoration. The project will significantly improve the energy efficiency of the entire building and significantly improve the learning opportunities for the children.

The project was completed in an extremely impressive 19 weeks and the successful design concept for this building has since been rolled out to other nurseries throughout Fife.

Details

Location: Lochgelly

Value: £686,665

Start Date: June 2014

End Date: October 2014

Main Contractor: Fife Council Building Services